Does It Matter?
by talkstoangels77
Summary: *A Kieli fannfic*  Kieli has a question, and Harvey has an epiphany...tiny, miniscule spoiler for book three!


**AN**: I've had this story in my head for a while, but wasn't sure where to place it chronologically...Til I read book 3, and went, "Oh! That's perfect!" On the other hand, I couldn't seem to decide between wanting to cry, or slap Harvey for being...well, Harvey-_-;

DIsclaimer: The only way I own Kieli, is by buying copies at the bookstore...

"Hey, Harvey?"

"Hn?" The Undying man next to her gave a small grunt and shifted around a bit, letting her know that she had been heard, but he really didn't feel like mustering up the energy to answer to her question.

"When's your birthday?"

There was silence, then more shifting, before a head of copper hair appeared from somewhere amongst the nest of blankets in the back of the truck. "I'm an Undying, Kieli. I was created by some twisted-" He almost used the word _bastard_, but decided the tongue-lashing he was sure to receive from the Corporal for speaking to her in such a manner wasn't worth it. Never mind the fact that the Corporal used a fair number of expletives in his own speech, at least when it was directed towards him-or any of the people who came after them once they discovered what he was. He chose instead to finish his sentence with "-scientist, not born from a mother's womb." He winced internally at his stupidity, wondering at how he could go and say something like that, after all the unkind things he had told her before the incident.

When she said nothing, he continued. "I don't have a birthday."

"But…There must have been a day that was different, right? A day when you woke up and finally started living?"

"A day when I started living, huh?" Harvey leaned back against the side of the truck lazily and started trying to recall whether or not there had been any day which had felt different to him. Unfortunately, his memories of that time all sort of seemed to run together, flowing endlessly from the laboratories, to the battlefield, to running from the Church's soldiers. Nothing had really changed for him until…

The memory of a day only a few months into the past flickered through his mind. He had been sitting at the station in Easterbury, silently hoping that the train trip would go without incident, and that he would be able to quickly and quietly get the Corporal back to his death site. He still wasn't sure what it was that drew him to look up at that moment, but he knew that if he hadn't, he'd probably still just be wandering aimlessly, until some lucky soldier managed to hit him with one of those damn carbonization guns. Oh, he was still running, as their current situation proved, but it was different now…Now he actually felt like each day had meaning to it.

"You know," He said after a few more minutes. "I think there just might've been."

She was silent for a few moments, as if processing this piece of information. "So?" She said eventually.

As much as he tried, he couldn't keep a hint of exasperation from his tone. "So what?"

"When was it?"

_Oh. What am I supposed to say? I've hurt her enough these past few days as it is, I can't tell her something like that and then just disappear…_More to himself than to her, he wondered aloud, "Does it matter? I'm alive now, and it could be worse."

"Yeah…" Kieli's voice was quiet, and he froze, wondering for a minute if his tone had been too harsh, and she'd gotten shy. But then, he heard the rhythmic sound of her breathing, and relaxed, realizing that the events of the past few days must have finally caught up with her-after all, the last time she had slept had been when she was unconscious after he-

He ended his train of thought right there, not wanting to relive the images of that day. Still, it was that same sort of thing which made him more certain than ever that this was the right decision. He moved Kieli over, so that she was resting fully on the pile of old blankets he had been resting on, then knocked sharply against the front end of the truck bed.

"Bea, can you pull over? I need to talk to you about something."

***sighs* I really, really don't want to wait until April to find out what happens next...Maybe I'll write more for it...Anyway, what do you guys think?**


End file.
